In one of Shakespeare’s other sonnets, Let me not (Sonnet CXVl), his displays his ideas about how powerful love can be. In this poem he uses nature as a contrast as to what love can with stand, as in the last sonnet he compared love to summer he uses more brutal weather in this sonnet to make it more effective.
“That looks on tempests and is never shaken”
(Sonnet CXVl, line 6)
Shakespeare’s values of love are also shown in this sonnet.
“Whose worths unknowne”
(Sonnet CXVl, line 8)
In the next line Shakespeare personifies love to give it more of a dramatic effect on the reader and he again refers to a sense of time. He uses time in this sonnet as an enemy that has been defeated by his love, implying that his love is not times fool.
“Lov’s not Times foole”
(Sonnet CXVl, line 10)
Finally in this sonnet his use of vocabulary puts a positive spin on the words he has used. At a first glance the casual eye may be mislead into thinking that this line is about doom, but at a closer look it can be understood that Shakespeare was implying that love is eternal. In addition to this he uses enjambment to carry his point across to the next line.
“Love alters not with his breefe houres and weekes,
But bears it out even to the edge of doome”.
(Sonnet CXVl, Lines 11 & 12)
In the final two lines of the sonnet, the rhyming couplet emphasis the conclusion and engraves his belies upon this sonnet. His use of languages inserts a witty challenge into a serious sonnet giving it a deeper sense of meaning and importance.
“If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved”.
(Sonnet CXVl, lines 13 & 14)
Shakespeare many other poets took to this traditional form and wrote their own didn’t only write sonnets, for instance William Wordsworth built his career upon writing sonnets. His poetry is perhaps most original in its vision of the almost divine power of the creative imagination reforging the links between man and humankind and the natural world. In 1843 he became England's poet laureate. He is regarded as the central figure in the initiation of English Romanticism.
In his sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” he portrays his views of London that no one else can see. When this sonnet was written London wasn’t what it is today, it was a grey, dirty, little city that was home for many creatures including humans. At the time London’s sewage system wasn’t operational and therefore sewage waste walked along the street next to people, this lead to the spread of many diseases. The foul vermin that inhabited the area only escalated the situation. However Wordsworth didn’t see it as this, he saw London as his little beautiful city.
“The beauty of the morning”
(Composed upon Westminster Bridge, line 5)
At the time London’s factories were in full flow and thus the air became very polluted and smoky, in the day the sun became barely visible through the blanket of smoke that covered London. He personifies the sun as he describes it as “steeping” just as a person would do looking down upon something. But his dim view of London didn’t affect Wordsworth he saw London in his own, different light.
“All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep”.
(Composed upon Westminster Bridge, line 8 & 9)
Another famous English poet was John Keats (1795-1820), he died young and as a result his work on sonnet and odes were only fully appreciated when he died. His first mature work was the sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer" (1816), written after fully devoting himself to poetry at the age of twenty-one. Marked by vivid imagery, great sensuous appeal, and a yearning for the lost glories of the classical world, his finest works are among the greatest of the English traditional poet.
During a few intense months of 1819, due to the fact that he discovered he had tuberculosis, he produced many of his greatest works: several great odes (including "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode to a Nightingale," and "To Autumn"). After these epics he began writing sonnets about finding love too late, this is ironic as you would expect to hear this from someone who is in their late eighties not from a young man who isn’t even twenty yet. In his sonnet “When I have fears” he talks of how his enjoyable days of life are almost over. He refers to shadows implying that his life is begging to fade away into the shadows.
“And feel that I may never live to trace
Their shadows,”
(When I have fears, lines 7 & 8)
The title of the sonnet implies to the reader that the fear of dying sometimes overwhelms his thinking and I suppose writing his thoughts down in sonnet form was his way of dealing with the stress of dieing. At such a young age, John Keats was truly an inspirational poet who could have ranked amongst the best if he had been given longer to live. In the last line of his sonnet he describes how he is feeling, sanding alone with his fame and love fading and with nothing to do but wait for death to sacrum him.
“Then on the shore,
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink”.
(When I have fears, lines 12,13 &14)
There aren’t just male sonnet writers, one famous British female sonnet writer included, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Although it was said that she was an invalid who was afraid to meet strangers, her poetry became well known in literary circles with the publication of volumes of verse in 1838 and 1844. She met Robert Browning in 1845, and after a courtship kept secret from her despotic father, they married and settled in Florence. Her reputation rests chiefly on the love poems written during their courtship.
Her sonnets were mostly dedicated to her husband Robert and portray the way she felt about him. In the sonnet “How do I love thee?” this is shown. She expresses her deepest love him through her words in the sonnet, it has a very literal meaning and only one metaphor. This extract reveals that she loves every part of Robert form head to toe, the list of three used in both these extracts implies the importance the line, and this is also true of the repetitive nature in which Browning uses.
“ I love thee to the depth and breadth and height”
(How do I love thee? line 2)
In the last few lines she describes her love as fully as possible and pledges her life to him. The enjambment used lets her love flow through the lines.
“I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life”
(How do I love thee? Line 12 & 13)
Another famous female English poet was Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Her best poetry is strong, personal, and unforced; her success arises from her ability to unite the devotional and the passionate sides of her nature. Her Sing-Song (1872), a collection of nursery rhymes, is among the most outstanding children's books of the 19th century. After the onset of a thyroid disorder in 1871, she wrote mainly devotional verse.
Many of her sonnets were heavily influenced by her deep religious beliefs; her sonnet “Remember ” follows this trend. This sonnet talks of how she wants to be remembered when she dies, she knew she was going to die so writing sonnets let people in the present and future know what sort of person she was. This sonnet is often described as a beautifully emotive poem that draws a tear to the eye. Her religious belief are felt when she talks of how she has gone far away, therefore she believes in heaven and hell and thus what she is referring to.
“Gone far away into the silent land”
(Remember, line 2)
The last two lines of the sonnet paint a prefect picture of the future that lies ahead for the loved ones that she is leaving behind, and although the topic of this poem is death she expresses it in such a way that the reader soon forgets about it and begins to remember her the way Christina Rossetti wanted people to. She describes that she wants her death to be forgotten about but remembered as the great poet that she was and that will bring a smile to many peoples face.
“Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.”
(Remember, lines 13 & 14)
Sonnets have been passed down through generations to now what is considered as a tradition amongst poets. One poet who has continued the tradition into the twenty-century is Wilfred Owen. He was already writing verse before he enlisted in the army in 1915, but the experience of trench warfare brought him to rapid maturity; the poignant poems he wrote after January 1917 are full of anger at the cruelty and waste of war and pity for its victims. His sonnet “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is no exception.
The sonnet is a long comparison between what a funeral is like on the battlefield for a solider and what the funeral is like back home. The first eight lines (octave) describe what a funeral is like at war on the battlefields of the western front. In the first line he compares to his fallen comrades as cattle, because of the way that they are being slaughtered as if they were cattle. This is a rhetorical question as Owen asks what ceremony do these fallen soldiers receive at the time.
“What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?”
(Anthem for Doomed Youth, line 1)
Owen uses a remarkable vocabulary style in this poem; he describes he gun and shellfire in such a way that engulfs the reader. The particular technique he uses is known as onomatopoeia. Examples are shown below:
“Only the monstrous anger of the guns,
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle”
(Anthem for Doomed Youth, lines 2 & 3)
Owens bitterness is shown enormously in this sonnet and continues throughout the octave, in the sestet Owen describes the funeral in which is given back home. It shows the comparison made, as it is a very peaceful funeral whereas on the battlefield the only things that can be heard are the sound of gunfire and death. He begins the sestet in the same way as the octave, with a rhetorical question.
“What candles may be held to speed them all?”
(Anthem for Doomed Youth, line 9)
To conclude, the six poets I have written about all had their different views upon their own chosen subjects. And how sonnet have been passed down through the generations and what a sonnet has become today in the modern world. Shakespeare wrote about how love was timeless whereas Keats had found love too late. Browning wrote of how dedicated she was to her husband whereas Rossetti wrote of how she wanted to be remembered when she was gone. Wordsworth saw things that other people could not see and thus achieved his romantic poetic title. And finally Owen portrayed his anguish and hatred of war in his sonnets with an equisetic use of language and vocabulary. All the poets who wrote sonnets, young and old have entranced millions of readers throughout the world.
